Washington State Secretary of Health John Wiesman approved Benton, Franklin and Yakima counties to move to a modified Phase 1 of Gov. Jay Inslee’s Safe Start plan, Friday.

Effective July 3, the following activities are permitted in Benton, Franklin and Yakima counties:

• Construction as permitted in Phase 2 guidance.
• Manufacturing as permitted in Phase 2 guidance.
• Restaurants for outdoor seating only at 50% of existing outdoor capacity.
• In-store retail at 15% indoor capacity with indoor activities limited to 30 min.
• Personal services at 25% indoor capacity.
• Dog groomers at 25% indoor capacity.
• No gatherings with people outside of the household except for small behavioral health support groups of <5 people.

A total of five counties are in a modified version of Phase 1, 17 counties are in Phase 2 and 17 counties are in Phase 3. To view which counties are in each phase of the Safe Start plan, visit our website.

On July 2, Governor Inslee and Secretary Wiesman announced a pause on all county applications to move to their next phase of the Safe Start plan due to increased COVID-19 activity in the state.

Counties will remain in their current phase for at least the next two weeks. Any applications that the department has under review will be paused until at least July 16.

Individuals can also find COVID-19 information on the Department of Health’s website or call 1-800-525-0127.

Individuals can text the word “coronavirus” to 211-211 to receive information and updates on their phone wherever they are.